September 30th
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24 NKJV
Jesus was talking about serving God and money in this verse and the concept applies to the greater principle that we cannot serve God and sin. I like the car analogy to illustrate this. There can only be one driver in the driver seat. When we make Jesus Lord of our lives, he should be the one in the driver’s seat. If we don’t fully hand over control of our lives to Jesus, other things like sinful desires will drive our lives.
Paul wrote about this in Romans 6: “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Romans 6:16 NASB). What many people don’t realize is that sin is a personalized force that desires to rule over each of us (Romans 6:12). We too must heed the warning that God gave Cain, “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it” (Genesis 4:7 NASB).
The struggle between serving two masters is particularly apparent in a Christian’s battle against sex addiction. We cannot serve both God and lust. When we try to do both, we end up frustrated and defeated. Many go the way of lust and abandon their faith in God to pursue the temporal pleasures of lust. It’s easier to do that than half-heartedly try to follow God while embracing something we know is wrong.
Though serving God may seem difficult or even impossible, we must remember that he has made it possible for us! He loved us so much that he sacrificed Jesus on the cross to purchase the way to freedom for us. Through our faith in Jesus, we receive the power to live a new life in righteousness, free of the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). We receive the Holy Spirit which strengthens us to stop responding to our sinful impulses and guides us in the way of truth (Romans 8:11-13, John 16:13).
Questions for further thought:
In your own words, what is the definition of sin?
Even if we could serve two masters, why are God and sin incompatible? (Hebrews 4:15)
Pride is a sin that involves making who the master of our lives?
Is Jesus the master of your life today? If not, what are the other masters you are serving?
Prayer:
“Lord Jesus, Thank you for the sacrifice of your life on the cross for my life. I embrace the new life of righteousness that you purchased for me. Please forgive me for not making you fully Master of my life. I repent from serving these other masters in my life: ____________ (list). I commit to making you Lord of every area of my life. Please strengthen me to follow you and put any sinful desires residing in me to death. I yield my will to your will. I am sensitive to your Holy Spirit and I follow you. I praise you and thank you, Amen.”